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The Republic of Plato - Lecture notes 6

Major Issues Of Western Political Thought (Pol Theory: West Pol Thought I) (George
Washington University)

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The Republic of Plato

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 4:20 PM

• The Republic
○ A text that deals with politics, philosophy, theories of war, criticism
of individuals, and much more
§ It's well rounded
○ The First Book:
§ Dominant and destructive--a ground clearing
§ Might have been an independent book on its own because of
it's diversity compared to the entire book
○ Plato takes form of poetry but gives it a philosophical meaning
§ First to do it in the Western
§ Makes it hard for us and easy too
□ Uses the dramatics of tragedies
□ It's a political move
§ The character of each person in the book are the embodiment
of different philosophical ideas
□ Personified through dialogues
® Get to see philosophy in action
® The back and forth of inquiry
§ Dialectic
□ Dia-logue
® Taking the idea and giving it a philosophical
position
® Testing ones position and arguing it to see the
solidification of ideas
□ More engaging
® There is conflict
◊ Engages the reader to think about the
questions and answers
◊ No neutral sides, forced to evaluate the
arguments and kept inside the conversation
○ The end of Book 1:
pl d wi h the ion be he

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§ Socrates was not pleased with the conversation because there

was not definitive answer about what is justice
□ Have an intuition but there is no clear distinction about
justice
§ Aporia
□ Said to be an "aporatic" move
® Lack of "porus"--there is no path forward and one is
stuck
○ The characters:
§ Two of the characters are his brothers
□ Why would Plato put his own brothers?
§ Set during the War
□ During a peaceful moment of the war
® Long before Athens defeat and is still a democracy
□ The suggestion that Plato is making is
® Maybe there could be a different kind of outcome if
we have different types of leaders
® Hypothetically suggesting a different ending to the
war
◊ Philosophy can save politics
◊ Substitute wisdom for imperial ambition
◊ Knowledge for the empire
} Implies that it's an educational dialogue
® Plato thinks that education is the way to reform a
society
◊ Wants to educate in the ways of wisdom so
that you can become a leader of your society
◊ Founded the first university and it inspired
others to found other universities
□ With the fall of Roman
® The universities became monasteries and got taken
over by Christianity
◊ Modernity changed them to becoming the
official first universities like:
} Oxford
} Cambridge
® Then Yale and Harvard
◊ Became the model of Plato's first universities

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◊ Became the model of Plato's first universities

○ First page:
§ Socrates goes to the poorest part of the town, the port.
□ Dirty, common, and full of peasants, the port is about
giving the masses education
□ Echoing the sentiment from The Odyssey--the port is hell
® A place that is the opposite of insight and
enlightenment
□ Entering into a contest with Homer
® Most important poet was Homer, and the book is a
rewriting of Homer for the ends of Philosophers
◊ Tinkers with Homer's poetry, idioms, and
language
□ Socrates prays to the goddess
® Being pious
◊ But it’s ironic because he was accused of
being an atheist and executed as a result
◊ Plato is paying another homage to Socrates
} Trying to show us a different Socrates
than the one Athens showed us
§ Returns to Athens
□ On his way back, a slave of Polemarchus stops him and
tells him to wait for Polemarchus
® A slave orders Socrates to stop
® Disturbing image because
◊ Polemarchus is calling the shot and doing it
by the means of a slave
◊ Hierarchy is wrong and weird
} Below a slave is a philosopher
} A society that is upside down in
Socrates and Plato's eyes
□ Socrates stops
® He is basically told to stop
◊ What's the problem?
} Many who tell him to stop
} "Either prove a stronger Socrates or
stay"
– Socrates is one and there are many

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ny
of him
◊ Emphasized that there is a distinction of what
Plato thinks of the tiny minorities against the
majority
} Can we find a solution between
philosophy, philosopher and conflict
with the city?
} How can you get the tiny minority in the
position of power?
◊ The task of the book:
} How do you bring philosophical
knowledge and power together so that
wisdom rules? Or ultimately, those who
rule are intelligent and philosophical
– Calls it the arrangement
○ Second Page: Cephalus
§ Older guy, wealthy, spent his life making money in commerce,
and because of his age: he's worried about the afterlife
□ Is he going to heaven or hell?
□ Has he done good work on earth to go to a better place?
Led a virtuous life? Lived a good life?
§ Main regret that those dying have is:
□ They spent too much time making money and not living
life enough
§ Cephalus
□ Oftentimes, younger men--like Cephalus states--think
and do about sex
® Also partying
◊ He was a hedonist as a young man
◊ Followed his desires to feel good--not
intellectually but physically
□ Under the influence of "frenzied master"
® Human desire
□ Didn't lead an exemplary life
□ He escaped the addiction to his desires
® Desires: mentioned throughout the books
□ The lowest part of the human soul:
® The id (Freudian term)

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® The id (Freudian term)

□ Socrates believed there were 3 parts of the soul:
® The highest, middle, and lowest part
□ Also represents tradition
® Pious and religious
® Makes a religious sacrifice
◊ Never appears in the book again
} Meant to not be engaged because he's a
passing phase--elderly gentleman with
respect to his age
□ Sex--approached moderate amount of times
○ Definition of Justice: the Heart of the argument
§ Cephalus: telling the truth, giving back what a man has taken
from another man
□ Very Christian
□ Wealthy man that accords with his position is in society
® Convienant definition for a wealthy man
® It presumes that society and the city are already just
◊ Just maintain it since it's already existence
§ Can't assume a justice society, we have to define it
§ Son of Cephalus steps in: justice is given what is owed or
doing good to friends and harming enemies
□ Socrates: the status of friends?
® Not really sure of who friends are or enemies are
® "Seeming" and "being"
◊ Level of appearance
} Can seem to be good people
◊ Level of reality
} The actual character is revealed though
◊ Much less obvi
} Betrayal of friendship?
§ Polemarchus: embracing those we know and care about and
opposing those we don't
□ Justice is about loyalty
® Family, friends, and countries
□ Socrates: we know those people to a certain limit
□ Soldier mindset
® Man of honor and a loyal soldier

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® Man of honor and a loyal soldier

® Not a problem but it's limiting
® Solid patriotism
□ Who should we be obligated to defend and be loyal to?
□ Represents the middle part of the soul
® The spirited part
◊ Part of individuals that seeks victory and
honor
◊ Human desire to be recognized as the best
} Kind of a virtue--part of the courage
§ Persichimus (Socrates' maid of honor)
□ A sophost who taught rhetoric
□ Referred to as a wild beast
® Considered as anti-civilization
® Nihilist
□ Power is the game leader
□ The world is no way moral, virtuous and just--it's about a
power struggle and selfishness
□ He represents the antithesis of Socrates' philosophy
® If Socrates can't defeat Persichimus and prove that
there is justice in the world, he wins
□ Persichimus is someone who is modern and breathes our
era
® We live in the era that Persichimus describes as the
type of the world we are
◊ Every high forms of power is corrupt and
proven to be
® Justice is the advantage of the stronger
◊ The rulers make rules that benefit the very
few and themselves
} Selfish leaders
□ What does he represent that’s positive?
® Willingness to argue more than anyone else
® Committed to the life of the mind
◊ Represents the highest mind of the soul: the
most rationale part of the spirit
□ Socrates: do we always know what's in our in best
interest?

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® Do we ever mistake our best interest?

◊ Oftentimes, we don't know what we want,
even after we get it
◊ Have to be extremely self-assured to do such
§ What is good for human beings?
□ What do we need in order to be happy?
○ Book is arguing
§ Contraliberalism--modern liberalism
□ One direction that humans have to follow
□ Have to determine what that one human good is so we
can teach everyone
□ We have the human capacity to set institutions and
traditions up

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